There's controversy associated with a charter school in Broward County, Florida that is a Hebrew-language charter school called Ben Gamla Charter School. It seems the charter school wants to teach Bible as Literature, Old Testament History and Jewish History courses. The school is on its third attempt to provide the school district with a satisfactory curriculum. This issue took on a new level of importance to the school district when it learned the charter school planned to expand to other states. Currently the charter school has been ordered not to teach anything about God until the curriculum can be reviewed by a university professor.
The district has hired Nathan Katz, a Florida International University professor, to advise them about Ben Gamla. "It would be impossible to teach Hebrew culture without exploring Jewish holidays," he said in a letter to the district. "And this need not be problematic." Public schools can teach students Jewish traditions, such as a Seder plate contains Passover foods or the building of a sukkah during Sukkot. But, they must be taught as facts without affirming religious beliefs, he said in the letter. For example, he wrote, "To say that 'Many Jews erect a temporary dwelling called a sukkah to celebrate the fall holiday of Sukkot'… is to state objective facts. On the other hand, to say that [God] commanded Jews to dwell in sukkot [temporary dwellings] … would be to affirm religious beliefs."
My own experience tells me that in addition to training teachers on how to deliver the curriculum objectively, they also need to be trained on how to deal with questions or statements from the students during the lessons. Rather than be caught not knowing what to say in response to a student, the teacher needs to know how to either respond or redirect the student so as not to cross the line between teaching and indoctrination.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-flbgamla0828nbaug28,0,1936438.story
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